JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA – Oman’s Abdullah Al-Rawahi resumes his bid for 2025 FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC) honours at this weekend’s Rally Saudi Arabia (1–3 May), a new round that has attracted 29 entries.
The Kingdom returns to the regional championship for the first time in 15 years. The Oman Rally Team star teams up with Britain’s Ross Whittock in an Autotek Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 for the Jeddah-based event.
Saudi Arabia is the third round of the championship and is a new rally for everyone. It’s going to be very challenging but I don’t really know what to expect so far. I haven’t seen the stages. We will try to adapt really fast. Ata (Al-Hmoud) is not with me this time. Ross is going to join me. We have worked together in the WRC before so I think we can work around it and give the maximum. In terms of the car, we have been working hard to get the best out of it. Recently, we have been happy with it. I am hoping we can perform well with the right set-up. We can’t make any changes until we see the stages. Then we will make up our mind and test a few things on the car in Saudi. Our plan is to push and try and secure the win. It won’t be easy with the challenge from Nasser (Al-Attiyah) and other good drivers in the line-up. We will do our best and hopefully come out with a good result.
Abdullah Al-Rawahi
A WRC candidate event
As well as its first MERC round since 2010, the new rally is Saudi Arabia’s official candidate event before it joins the FIA World Rally Championship for the first time at the end of November.
Joint 2023 regional champion Al-Rawahi aims to close the gap on Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah, who is chasing a 20th regional title and leads with 70 points after Oman and Qatar. Local driver Rakan Al-Rashed and Al-Rawahi are his closest challengers with four rounds left.
The 29-car entry includes nine Rally2 cars, six SSVs and 21 crews registered for MERC points. They face six new gravel stages, each run twice, with parts likely to feature on the inaugural WRC event. Rally2 rivals include defending champion Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari (Citroën C3), Master MERC leader Nasser Khalifa Al-Atya (Ford), Jordan’s Sheikh Bader Al-Fayez (Škoda) and Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT’s Juho Hänninen, who is not chasing MERC points. Lebanon’s Bassel Abu Hamdan and Firas Elias are also entered in a Škoda Fabia Rally2.
The rally is based at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, with Rally HQ in the Race Tower. Crews will tackle 192.24 competitive kilometres in an 824.35km route. Friday’s stages east of Jeddah feature two passes through Buraiman, Wadi Al-Matwi and Um Al-Jerem; Saturday heads north for two runs through Al-Ghulal, Asfan and Thahban, with the second Thahban pass (9.34km) the Power Stage.
The Oman Rally Team is backed by Al-Manar Investments, the Oman Automobile Association, WMS, Zamakan, OQ, Strike, Size, Oman’s Ministry of Youth, Sport and Culture and National Finance.
MERC standings after round 2
- Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT) – 70pts
- Rakan Al-Rashed (KSA) – 48pts
- Abdullah Al-Rawahi (OMN) – 43pts
- Nasser Khalifa Al-Atya (QAT) – 38pts
- Rashid Al-Muhannadi (QAT) – 32pts